Presenting: Desert Thunder

Last summer (August) at the NMAI’s National Powwow I was involved in the presentation ceremony for ‘Desert Thunder’, Desert Thunder is a powwow drum that Staff Sgt. Debra Mooney of the Oklahoma-based 120th Engineer Battalion of the Army National Guard, was presenting to the NMAI, as it was the drum used in the first ever powwow to being organised by serving soldiers, that took place in a war zone.

Prior to the presentation ceremony the drum had been brought the the NMAI’s Cultural Resource Center (CRC) and had come to me in the conservation laboratory, where I had conducted a condition assessment, and ensured that it was not going to be damaged by being exhibited at the National Powwow, I then gave advice concerning the packaging of the drum, and assisted during the presentation ceremony.

It was a honour to be involved in this project, and to meet Debra and discuss the powwow and the construction of the drum, in the Iraqi desert.

The presentation of the drum received a special mention in one of the Washington Post articles about the National Powwow. Washington Post Article Here